Language learning methods
105 theses under this subject heading
Foreign language learning anxiety of high school students in Kosovo
Second language learning is a complex process. Learning the vocabulary and grammar structures, even developing the necessary skills for communication may not be enough. You also need to learn about the culture of the foreign language. While this might be found enjoyable for some students, others might find the process threatening and may experience anxiety in the language classroom. Anxiety has a great negative effect on learning a foreign language. This study investigated the degree of foreign language classroom anxiety of Turkish High School Students in Kosovo. Moreover, it aims to find out if there are any differences between the anxiety levels of the learners in terms of their achievement in the foreign language, knowing more than one language and type of high school. This study was conducted with 169 learners of English in four different high school contexts; Technical High School, The High School of Economics, Medical High School and Science High School with 169 students. All of them were the first grade students. The data collected through Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) questionnaire were statistically analyzed to identify students' anxiety levels. The questionnaire was administered to the subjects in their regular class hours in different school settings. Their mid-term grades were gained from their class teachers to identify the relationship between their level of anxiety and their success measured by their course grades. The relationship between learners' anxiety and their language background and their education context was also analyzed statistically. The analysis of the results revealed that students learning English generally experience a moderate level of language anxiety. No significant relationship was identified between students' foreign language anxiety scores and their level of success, between being monolingual and multilingual. Their educational context and their level of anxiety did not correlate either. According to the results of the study, foreign language anxiety cannot be considered a negative psychological phenomena in Kosovo. Keywords: Foreign language anxiety, achievement, language background, educational background
Çevrimiçi öğretim materyali geliştirme ve uygulama süreçlerinin incelenmesi: İngilizce dersi örneği
Araştırmanın amacı, bir İngilizce öğretmeni tarafından çevrimiçi ortamlar aracılığıyla 9. sınıfın bir dönemlik İngilizce öğretim programına yönelik materyallerin geliştirilmesi sürecinin ve geliştirilen materyallerin öğretme – öğrenme sürecinde kullanılma durumlarının incelenmesidir. Araştırmanın verileri çevrimiçi ortam öğretimi, çevrimiçi öğretim materyali geliştirme ve materyallerin sınıf ortamında kullanılma süreçlerinin video kayıtları, araştırmacı ve öğretmen günlükleri, çalışma kapsamında hazırlanan başarı testi, öğrenci ve öğretmen yazılı görüşme formları, yarı-yapılandırılmış görüşme formu, odak grup görüşme formu ve araştırmacının gözlem notlarından oluşmaktadır. Toplanan nitel veriler içerik analizi yöntemi kullanılarak, nicel veriler ilişkili örnekler t-testi uygulanarak analiz edilmiştir. Çevrimiçi öğretim materyallerinin uygulanmasıyla ilgili öğrenci görüşleri çoğunlukla olumlu olmuş, öğrenciler süreci eğlenceli, İngilizce becerilerini geliştiren, akılda kalıcı, öğrenmeyi kolaylaştıran ve diğer derslerde de kullanılmasını önerdikleri bir süreç olarak belirtmişlerdir. Benzer şekilde öğrencilere ön test ve son test olarak uygulanan başarı testleri arasında da anlamlı bir fark bulunmuş ve bu veriler nitel verileri desteklemiştir. Öğretmen araştırma sonucunda hem teknoloji yeterliği açısından hem de akademik alanda gelişim göstermiştir. Araştırma süreci boyunca teknik aksaklıklar ve bağlantı sorunları olmuş, öğretmenin bu sorunlara çözüm bulma konusunda da gelişim gösterdiği gözlenmiştir. Buna göre öğretmenin mobil internet kullanımı ve çevrimiçi ortamları aktif bir şekilde kullanmasıyla karşılaşılan sorunlara çözüm bulabildiği sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Araştırmada, mesleki gelişim etkinliklerinin bireyin istek, gereksinim, beklenti ve hazırbulunuşluğu göz önünde bulundurulduğunda daha başarılı olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Mesleki gelişim etkinliklerinin öğretmen özelliklerine, olanaklarına ve gereksinimlerine göre olarak tasarlanmalarının öğretmenin motivasyon ve verimliliğine katkısı bulunduğu da ulaşılan sonuçlardandır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Mesleki gelişim, Yabancı dil öğretimi, Çevrimiçi ortamlar
A scale of Turkish preparatory school university students' demotivational factors towards learning English
The present study aims to develop and validate a survey instrument to measure university preparatory school students' demotivation levels as well as investigating the sources of demotivation. In accordance with measuring students' demotivational level, the items of this survey are developed based on a review of literature on student motivation/demotivation and the content analysis of compositions written by students learning English at a preparatory school. 32 items are included in the survey titled 'A Scale of Turkish Preparatory School University Students' Demotivational Factors Towards Learning English', which was administered to 206 university preparatory school students in Eskişehir, Turkey. The data were submitted to the internal consistency analysis to determine reliability of the instrument and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the scale. The results showed the construct of preparatory school students' demotivation is multi-dimensional with four factors including personal reasons, past experiences, features of preparatory school program and the form of instruction. After the validation procedures, the data were collected online from 1105 students in various preparatory school programs in Turkey. The findings yielded that proficiency level had a significant effect on students' demotivational levels, and also a significant relationship was found between university type and demotivation deriving from past experiences and features of preparatory school program. As a result, by considering the overall findings of the current study, it might be suggested that awareness of demotivating factors and sources of demotivation need to be raised for the language learners as well as their teachers and program developers. Keywords: Motivation, Demotivation, Sources of demotivation, Demotivating factors,Scale validation.
Üniversite hazırlık sınıf öğrencileri ve özel dil okulu öğrencilerinin yabancı dil öğrenme stratejileri ve öz düzenleme becerileri
Bu araştırmanın amacı, üniversite hazırlık sınıfı ve özel İngilizce kursu öğrencilerinin dil öğrenme stratejileri kullanımlarını ve öz düzenleyici öğrenme becerilerini okul türü, cinsiyet, kur düzeyi, mezun olunan lise türü, ortaöğretim alanı ve yaş değişkenlerine göre incelemektir. Araştırmaya Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulundan 293 ve Aydında bulunan özel dil kurslarından 129 olmak üzere toplam 422 öğrenci katılmıştır. Araştırmada dil öğrenme stratejilerini belirlemek amacıyla Oxford (1990) tarafından geliştirilen ve Cesur ve Fer (2007) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan Dil Öğrenme Stratejileri Envanteri ve öz düzenleme becerilerini belirlemek amacıyla da Turan (2009) tarafından geliştirilen Öz Düzenleyici Öğrenme Becerileri Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Dil Öğrenme Stratejileri Envanteri için doğrulayıcı, Öz Düzenleyici Öğrenme Becerileri Ölçeği için ise hem açımlayıcı hem de doğrulayıcı faktör analizi yapılmıştır. Ayrıca araştırmanın nitel verileri araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanmış, görüşme formu ile toplanmıştır. Araştırmanın nicel verilerinin analizinde SPSS 21.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) programından faydalanılmış ve nitel verilerin analizinde ise içerik analizi yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçlarına göre, öğrencilerin dil öğrenme stratejileri kullanımlarının ve öz düzenleme becerilerinin orta düzeyde olduğu görülmüştür. Özel kurs öğrencilerinin hem dil öğrenme stratejileri kullanımlarının hem de öz düzenleme becerilerinin hazırlık sınıfı öğrencilerine göre daha üst düzeyde olduğu belirlenmiştir. Öğrencilerin dil öğrenme stratejileri kullanımlarının yaş, İngilizce kullanma sıklığı, kur düzeyi ve ortaöğretim alanı değişkenlerine; öz düzenleme becerilerinin ise cinsiyet ve yaş değişkenine göre istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir şekilde farklılaştığı tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca dil öğrenme stratejileri ile öz düzenleme becerileri arasında pozitif yönde yüksek bir ilişki olduğu saptanmıştır. Son olarak hazırlık sınıfı ve özel kurs öğrencileriyle birlikte öğretmenlerin yabancı dil öğrenme ve öğretme hakkındaki görüşlerine yer verilmiştir. ANAHTAR SÖZCÜKLER: Dil Öğrenme Stratejileri, Öz Düzenleme Becerileri,Yabancı Dil Öğrenimi, Özel Kurs Öğrencileri, Hazırlık Sınıfı Öğrencileri.
Türkçenin yabancı dil olarak öğretiminde otantik öğrenmenin dinleme becerisine etkisi
Bu çalışmanın amacı, Türkçenin yabancı dil olarak öğretiminde otantik öğrenmenin dinleme becerisine etkisini araştırmaktır. Bu amaç doğrultusunda verilerin toplanması, analizi, hipotezlerin kontrol edilmesi ve yorumlanmasında ön test-son test tek gruplu zayıf deneysel desenden faydalanılmıştır. Bu araştırma, İstanbul ilinde bulunan bir vakıf üniversitesindeki Türkçe Öğretim Merkezinde, B2 seviyesinde öğrenim gören toplam 22 öğrenciyle yapıldı. Araştırmada çalışma grubuna toplam sekiz hafta süren otantik öğrenmenin ilkeleri dikkate alınarak hazırlanmış dinleme etkinlikleri uygulanmıştır. Etkinliklerin uygulama öncesinde ve uygulama sonrasında ön test ve son test yapılmıştır. Araştırmada elde edilen nicel verilerin analizinde SPSS paket programından yararlanılmıştır. Shapiro- Wilk Testi uygulanarak dağılımın normalliği belirlenmiş, dağılımın çarpıklık ve basıklık değerleri dikkate alınarak da araştırmada parametrik testler kullanılmıştır. Araştırmada nicel olarak elde edilen veriler üzerinde yapılan istatistiksel analizler sonucunda, öğrencilerin dinlediğini anlama becerisi ön test ve son test sonuçlarında anlamlı düzeyde farklılık oluştuğu gözlemlenmiştir. Ayrıca çalışma grubunda bulunan öğrenciler farklı değişkenlere göre incelenmiştir. Bu değişkenlerde Türkiye'de bulunma sürelerine göre anlamlı bir fark bulunmuş, cinsiyet, yaş, ülke, ana dili, bildiği yabancı dil sayısı, faydalanılan kaynaklar ve en çok zorlanılan dil becerilerine göre incelenmiş ve anlamlı bir fark bulunmamıştır.
TRIZ as an innovative method in English language teaching to support learners' reading and writing skills
Learning English is important primarily because English is an international language. In addition, English plays an important role in educational contexts and serves as a gateway to the world. Education is a process that enables students to both acquire knowledge and develop their creative thinking skills. The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits of implementing TRIZ, which is an innovative method in foreign language teaching, in English lessons to improve students' writing and reading skills. TRIZ is an innovative method of problem-solving that tries to make students' minds more flexible and creative. An experimental group and a control group were compared within the framework of a quasi-experimental research design. In the experimental group, English lessons, reshaped within the framework of TRIZ, an innovative teaching method, were held for two months. In the control group, any teaching activities shaped within the framework of the TRIZ method were not carried out. A pre-test and a post-test were used to analyze the effectiveness of the TRIZ method on students' writing and reading skills and to compare the experimental and control groups. In addition, observations (students' interactions with the teacher and their views on the teaching method used) were made to evaluate the participants in both classes and to compare their similarities and differences. The findings of the present study revealed that TRIZ can be used effectively to teach English in an innovative way, students in the experimental group were more engaged and performed better than the control group. The students who were taught English within the framework of the TRIZ method showed higher performance in reading and writing skills than the students in the control group who did not take the English lessons reshaped within the TRIZ method. In addition, the fact that the students in the experimental group developed their writing skills more than their reading skills revealed the effectiveness of the TRIZ method in improving their writing skills. Moreover, the TRIZ method has been found to be beneficial not only in increasing students' test performance but also in improving their communication skills. In summary, within the framework of this research, it was concluded that the application of the TRIZ method in English lessons improves students' reading and writing skills and can help bring an innovative perspective to English Language Teaching. Keywords: TRIZ, TRIZ Method, TRIZ Principles, Reading and Writing Skills, Innovation, Problem-solving.
Türkçe öğrenen Türk soylu öğrencilerin hazırlıksız konuşmalarına yönelik yanlış çözümlemesi
Ana dili veya yabancı dil öğretimi dört temel beceri üzerine kuruludur. Bu beceriler kazanım sırasına göre şu şekildedir: Dinleme, konuşma, okuma ve yazma. Gündelik hayatta iletişim kurmadaki etkisi nedeniyle konuşma becerisi bir adım öne çıkmaktadır. Buna rağmen ilgili alan yazında konuşma becerisinin en az önemsenen ve üzerinde en az çalışma yapılan dil becerilerinden biri olduğu belirtilmektedir. Konuşma sırasında yapılan yanlışlar, bu becerinin nitelikli bir biçimde kazandırılmasının önündeki önemli bir engeldir. Türkçe öğrenen Türk soylular da hedef dil ile kendi dilleri arasındaki benzerlikten kaynaklanan etkenler nedeniyle konuşma sırasında yanlışlar yapmaktadır. Türk soyluların konuşmaları sırasında değişik sebeplerle yaptıkları yanlışları belirlemek, dil öğretiminin etkili ve nitelikli bir şekilde gerçekleştirilebilmesi açısından büyük bir önem taşımaktadır. Araştırmada nitel desende içerik analizi yönteminden yararlanılmıştır. Bu bağlamda araştırmada, Çukurova ve Sakarya Üniversitesi TÖMER'de B1 düzeyinde öğrenim gören 114 Türk soylu öğrenci araştırmaya gönüllü olarak katılmıştır. Söz konusu öğrencilerin hazırlıksız konuşma sırasında yaptıkları yanlışları tespit etmek amacıyla uzman görüşünden hareketle kontrol listesinden seçilen bir konu üzerine öğrencilerin hazırlıksız konuşma yapmaları sağlanmış ve ses kayıtları alınmıştır. Bu ses kayıtları transkript edilerek yapılan yanlışlar tespit edilmiş; bu yanlışlar temalara, kategorilere ve kodlara ayrılmıştır. Araştırmanın bulguları, Türk soyluların "dil bilgisel", "söz dizimsel" ve "kod karıştırma" olmak üzere 3 tür yanlış yaptıklarını ortaya koymuştur.
Transforming receptive vocabulary knowledge into productive vocabulary through ict tools and investigation of students' views
Today's world has been continuously changing including education thanks to technological developments. As a result of this movement, teaching strategies have naturally undergone a change. By considering this, the objective of this present thesis is to integrate technology with vocabulary teaching process. Thereby, this study incorporates Quizlet and Word Art in order to improve vocabulary knowledge. This thesis also clarifies the effect of Quizlet on students' receptive vocabulary knowledge. Besides, Word Art has been used to develop students' productive vocabulary knowledge. The researcher also aims to see possible effect of ICT tools on students' lexical densities. All groups learned target vocabulary explicitly within a context and this context was provided by reading texts, listening texts and speaking models but for the first 6 weeks, they practiced all target vocabulary through Quizlet while they practiced all target vocabulary through Word Art for the other 5 weeks. The treatment lasted 11 weeks with 70 students at a state university; one group with three subgroups were created. Mixed method one group research design was used in this thesis. In order to collect quantitative data, pretest and posttest technique was applied in order to see to find out whether there is an effect of ICT tools on students' vocabulary knowledge with the help of SPSS 25. By using SPSS 25, descriptive statistics of pretest and posttest scores were calculated and ANOVA was applied to find out significance value of both tests. Furthermore, the researcher applied pre writing, post receptive and post productive writing tests to identify students' lexical density thanks to http://www.analyzemywriting.com. To check whether students used target vocabulary after Quizlet and Word Art treatments, all writings were again analyzed via AntConc and target vocabulary used by the participants were determined. Finally, interviews were conducted with 10 students in order to collect qualitative data to identify the students' perceptions towards the course and ICT tools. These interviews were analyzed by using content analysis. The results of this thesis showed that ICT tools were greatly effective in developing vocabulary knowledge, and also lexical density. A significant difference was found in posttest scores and lexical density mean scores. Word Art was more successful than Quizlet in terms of using target vocabulary in writing; besides, this study pointed out that students have positive perceptions towards ICT tools and they found ICT tools enjoyable and mostly attractive.
Die Untersuchung des Einflusses von Liedern auf den Wortschatzerwerb im Deutschunterricht in den 10.Klasssen
This study aims to determine the effects of including German songs in German classes on the vocabulary of the 10th graders. The study took place in the 2nd semester of the 2018-2019 education period in ' Bursa Hürriyet Anadolu Lisesi'. The practice lasted 16 weeks. For this study, suitable songs were chosen and they were prepared for use in the classes. The students were asked their opinions of using songs in the classes and to see the effects of this practice in vocabulary development a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test control groups has been used. Qualitative and quantitative data were gathered. With the gathered results, it was proven that songs were effective on students' vocabulary development and consolidation. Lastly, there were suggestions about using German songs in classes
Language learning strategies employed by postgraduate students of social sciences and basic / applied sciences at YADIM
This study is designed to identify individual metacognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies of postgraduate students of social sciences and basic/applied sciences who study English at YADIM (Centre for Foreign Languages) at Çukurova University. Moreover, the possible differences in the strategy type and strategy amount between the two groups are also main interest of this study. Forty postgraduate students of social sciences and forty postgraduate students of basic/applied sciences were randomly selected. A strategy inventory questionnaire with close ended items and a standard language proficiency test were administered. The data was collected in two phases and no treatment will be given to the students who participate in this study. The data was analyzed by means of chi-square values calculated on the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). Key words: Language Learning Strategies, Learning Strategies, Metacognitve Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Social/Affective Strategies.
A case study on the relation between content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and motivation in language learning
Motivation has always been at the heart of education and language teaching. It has also been defined as the key to all learning and academic success. As I usually observe in my students, lack of motivation is one of the biggest problems that the teachers face in their classrooms. Teacher skills in motivating students are considered to be in the central of teaching effectiveness. Teachers should provide various techniques, methods and approaches which can increase their students? motivation. In this sense, CLIL has been one of the most popular and the newest methods used in language classrooms in recent years. CLIL has been defined as a context in which a foreign language is used as a medium in the teaching and learning of non-language content. Students try to learn some other subject matters in other disciplines during their language learning process by means of CLIL, and at the same time, they find a chance to use the foreign language in the other disciplines. In this way, they are expected to become more motivated. Therefore, the main purpose of this case study is to find out if there is a relation between CLIL and motivation in language learning during my fifth grade students? language learning processes at Sarıhamzalı Primary School in Seyhan, Adana. This study also aims to find out how students perceive CLIL activities.Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI), classroom observation checklist and informal interviews were used as data collection tools in this study. The results were discussed by content analysis and descriptive statistics.
Effects of podcasts on language learning beliefs and self-efficacy perceptions of first-year Turkish university students
This mixed method study described the language learning beliefs and self-efficacy perceptions of first-year Turkish university students engaged in learning English as a foreign language. It focused on beliefs and self-efficacy perceptions they held before and after using podcasts as language learning objects for twelve weeks, and compared the results to find out whether there was a significant change. It also focused on the description of participants? views and feelings concerning podcasts and related tasks that were covered by the program. In order to investigate learners? self-efficacy perceptions of and beliefs about foreign language learning, Turkish versions of two questionnaires were distributed to 187 Turkish university students (purposive sampling): the BALLI to investigate language learning beliefs, and the English Self-Efficacy Scale to analyze the perceived self-efficacy of English. Both instruments were given before and after the twelve-week podcast-based language learning program. Participants also filled in the Podcast Evaluation form four times during the course to express their views and feelings about repetitive listening to podcasts and doing related tasks. Sixteen participants (proportional quota sampling) were interviewed at the beginning and at the end of the course with the aim of triangulation and gaining deeper understanding of the process. The quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank test. The data from two rounds of interviews were analyzed by following coding procedures. Detailed analysis of data revealed that podcasts had positive effects on certain types of language learning beliefs and English self-efficacy perceptions. Descriptive analysis showed that participants had a great diversity of beliefs. Although some beliefs seemed to be interrelated and reflecting meaningful patterns, contradictory beliefs were also reported. Generally, participants had positive views about the podcasts and related tasks. However, the treatment improved self-efficacy perceptions concerning basic level skills and not advanced ones.Keywords: Podcast, Listening, Language Learning Beliefs, English Self-Efficacy Perception
The relationship between language learning strategies and vocabulary size: The case of Iraqi learners of EFL
The crucial role of strategies in effective language learning is unquestionable, especially when the purpose of using language learning strategies is to enhance learner's vocabulary size. This is because of the prominent place of vocabulary size in language learning and it is a vital aspect of lexical knowledge. Thus, this thesis examines the relationship between language learning strategies and vocabulary size in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context. With this aim, 122 students at Sulaimani University, School of Languages were chosen as the participants of the study. The data were collected in two phases. In the quantitative phase, the data were collected through Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) while in the qualitative phase a semi-structured group interview was administered. So as to uncover the frequency of language learning strategy use and sub-category strategy preference, descriptive statistics were calculated. A Pearson product-moment correlation co-efficient was used to find out whether there is a relationship between language learning strategies and high vocabulary size. Finally, an independent-samples t-test was administered to reveal whether there is a significant difference between learners with high vocabulary size and low vocabulary size in their language learning strategy use. The results indicated that the learners applied language learning strategies with an average of 3.2. Similarly, the results for sub-category strategy use indicated that the learners with high vocabulary size employed metacognitive strategies most with an average of 4.66 and compensation strategies least with an average of 3.41. Additionally, the results showed that learners with low vocabulary size used metacognitive strategies most with an average of 3.50 and memory strategies least with an average of 2.86. According to the analysis results, there was a strong positive correlation between language learning strategy use and high vocabulary size (r=.96, p<.01, n=11). Moreover, a significant difference between the learners with large vocabulary size and small vocabulary size was revealed in their use of language learning strategies (t=13.81, df=24.87, p<.05). In addition, the findings of the interview supported those of the quantitative analyses in that the learners with high vocabulary size deployed more and various strategies than the learners with low vocabulary size. Key words: Language learning strategies, Vocabulary size, Vocabulary learning, Vocabulary knowledge
Lean as an innovative method in english language teaching to increase learner's reading and writing skills
Different methods of teaching have become a controversial topic in English language classrooms as the needs of the English learners should be met. Lean as an innovative method offers an effective language learning method to cater for learning. To exhilarate learning, teachers need to use effective methods of teaching to achieve what target they do want to reach. The current study investigated the impact of applying lean as an innovative method of teaching English on learners' reading and writing skills in English language teaching. A pre-post-test quasi-experimental design was used with a treatment and control group. The experimental group was given the treatment after the pre-test for 12 weeks, while the control group received no lean treatment. The analyses were conducted on 56 students from a coeducational high school participated in the study. Additionally, lean was introduced to the students before applying it as a method of teaching, it was also distributed among the participants to identify their goals. Statistical analyses were carried out using descriptive statistics and t tests. In the results, it was found that the score was significantly different between the two groups in terms of their performances in the pre- and post-tests (t=2.923, df=54, p<.05). The experimental group increased their mean score with an average of 3.7 in the post-test highly more than the control group which was 1.85. In addition, the descriptive statistics showed that the participants in the experimntal group improved better in the reading skill with an average of 2.4 more than the writing skill with an average of 1.71. The result was significantly different in the reading (t= -3.910, p<.05) and writing (t= -4.628, p<05) sections in the pre-post-test scores of the treatment group . In the control group in terms of reading and writing, there were apparent increases between the pre and post tests, reading with an average of 1.7 and writing with an average of .78 increases. It was found that the learners recorded different achievements in each part of the test, which were nine parts. Moreover, the study indicated that the two groups improved in different areas of the test after the treatment period but the use of lean method produced a higher achievement in the experimental group. This study provides evidence that applying lean increases the end-result of the learners of English effectively. These findings indicate that implementing lean method is possible and effective in English language teaching. A new model of lean in education has been shown in the study to increase the end-result of an educational process and finish the syllabus on time. Keywords: Lean, lean method, English as a foreign language (EFL), reading and writing skills, English Learners.
Pragmatic development of Turkish EFL learners in terms of speech acts: Refusals, requests, and suggestions
This study, which was designed as a descriptive one, was conducted to explore interlanguage pragmatic development of a group of EFL learners. In order to follow pragmatic development of the participants, scenarios about three speech acts, namely requests, refusals, and suggestions, were prepared and these scenarios were modified around two social variables proposed in Brown and Levinson's Politeness Theory, namely Power and Ranking of imposition. In this research, the participants' interlanguage pragmatic development was followed on a regular basis around a timeline covering one academic year and two different data collection instruments, namely Discourse Completion Tests and act-outs, were employed with definite intervals during this process. At the initial phase of the study, the participants were additionally asked to complete the given scenarios in Turkish, so that it would be possible to investigate the possible influence of pragmatic transfer on their L2 productions. At the final data collection period, also semi-structured interviews were applied in order to investigate the participants' own evaluations of their production processes. This study was completed thanks to the regular participation of 16 Turkish EFL learners. The participants' strategy use along with internal and external modification productions throughout the study were analyzed statistically. Overall, the results did not indicate significant changes in the participants' productions in English in terms of pragmatic development. It was seen that the participants' strategy and modification tool preferences remained stable for specific types for each speech act throughout the study. Keywords: Interlanguage, pragmatics, speech acts, politeness
Data-driven language learning: The use of concordance lines in vocabulary learning
The use of corpora for pedagogical purposes has drawn the interest recently especially with the introduction of Data Driven Learning, and the possible impact of the approach has started to be investigated. This corpus-based study aims explore the effectiveness of corpus use and concordance enriched instruction in the learning of vocabulary. The main purpose of the study was to explore the learning of target words of experimental group, who used hands-on concordancing and control group, who received traditional coursebook-based instruction. The productive use of vocabulary was also explored with writing tasks. Additionally, students' attitudes were also examined in the scope of this study. 58 students from Fırat University aged between 18-22 participated in the study. The study employed a mixed- method research design with which both the quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through vocabulary tests, writing tasks, student questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The statistical analysis of vocabulary tests results revealed that the students who received Data-Driven instruction outperformed the students who received traditional instruction in both post-tests and delayed post-tests. The findings also indicated that the students in both group showed similar performances in the productive use of the vocabulary items. It was also found that the students held positive attitudes towards using concordancing to expand their vocabulary as well as develop other language skills. Keywords: Corpus-based instruction, data-driven learning (DDL), concordance lines, vocabulary learning, student attitudes
Problematik der lernersprache von Türkischen studenten im lernprozess von Deutsch als zweite fremdsprache
In der vorliegenden Studie wurden die Lernersprache und deren Ursachen recherchiert, die von Lernern an der Hochschule für Fremdsprachen der Trakya Universität in den Vorbereitungsklassen für Deutsch entwickelt worden sind. An dieser Hochschule wird das Deutsche intensiv zwei Semester unterrichtet. Um diese Studie durchführen zu können, wurden aus den Vorbereitungsklassen für Deutsch insgesamt 30 Lerner ausgewählt, von denen 10 Lerner an der Abteilung für Deutschübersetzen der Literaturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät und 20 Lerner an der Abteilung für Deutschlehrerausbildung der Erziehungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät immatrikuliert sind. Bei dieser Auswahl wurden die Motivationen der Lerner für Deutsch berücksichtigt. Um die Lernersprache der Probanden festzustellen, wurden jeweils eine Frage auf den Sprachniveaus A1, A2 und B1 der Schreibprüfungen durch die kontrastive Fehleranalyse untersucht und deskriptiv interpretiert. Demzufolge wurden insgesamt 50 Fehlerarten festgestellt, von denen die 21 Fehlerarten auf dem Sprachniveau A1, die 15 Fehlerarten auf dem Sprachniveau A2 und die 14 Fehlerarten auf dem Sprachniveau B1 auftauchen. Kriterium für diese Fehleranalyse ist die Beantwortung der Prüfungsfragen mit einfachen Sätzen. Nach gesammelten Daten wurden festgestellt, dass die Lerner eher von früher gelernten ersten Fremdsprache als Englisch profitieren. Demgemäß wurde die Entwicklung der Lernersprache im Lernprozess des Deutschen als zweite Fremdsprache beschleunigt. Die Lernstrategien der Probanden wurden mit einer fünf-stufigen Likert-Skala-Befragung über die Sprachlernstrategien, die von Oxford (1990) entwickelt wurden, festgelegt, um die Entwicklung der Lernersprache von Lernern zu untersuchen. Die gesammelten Daten wurden durch SPSS-Paketprogramm statistisch analysiert. Da die Probanden aus zwei unabhängigen Variablen bestehen, wurde der parameterfreie t-Test durch Mann-Whitney U Test ausgerechnet, und der Signifikanzwert wurde als (p<0.05) berechnet. Um den parameterfreien t-Test der gepaarten Stichproben auszurechnen, wurde der Wilcox on-Test verwendet. Nach den gesammelten vortestlichen Daten wurde festgelegt, dass die Probanden dieselben Lernstrategien, die sie im Lernprozess des Englischen als erste Fremdsprache verwendet haben, auch im Lernprozess des Deutschen bevorzugen. Eine Präsentation über die Sprachlernstrategien wurde von der Forscherin erstellt und nach zwei Wochen nach der vortestlichen Befragung mit Beispielen aus dem Lehrwerk präsentiert. Zwei Wochen später nach dieser Präsentation wurde dieselbe Befragung über die Sprachlernstrategien nochmals als Nachtest durchgeführt. Nach gesammelten Daten wurden festgelegt, dass die Verwendungsebenen der Strategien und die Reihenfolge der häufig gebrauchten Strategien der Probanden geändert worden sind. Durch diese Veränderung ging die Entwicklung der Lernersprache langsamer, und somit wurde die Anzahl der Fehlerarten reduziert. Als Schlussfolgerung wurde betont, dass das Lernen durch die analogen Strukturen zwischen den Sprachen auch in negativer Hinsicht beeinflusst werden könnten. Daher sollten im Lernprozess des Deutschen unterschiedlichere Strategien als im Lernprozess des Englischen entwickelt werden.
Wortschatzdidaktik unter besonderer berücksichtigung der kollokationen. erweiterung der produktiven lexikalischen kompetenz bei fortgeschrittenen Türkischen deutschlernern
Kollokationen, die im Allgemeinen als solche Wortverbindungen definiert werden, die aus wenigstens zwei Wörtern bestehen, deren syntaktisches Miteinandervorkommen durch Sprachkonvention bestimmt wird, haben eine bedeutende Rolle bei der aktiven sprachlichen Kompetenz von Muttersprachlern. Deswegen stellen sie auch für die Fremdsprachenlerner bei der Erweiterung der lexikalischen Kompetenz und infolgedessen auch bei dem natürlichen, flüssigen Produzieren der Sprache eine große Bedeutung dar. Kontrastiv betrachtet weisen interlinguale Kollokationen meistens große Unterschide auf. Deutsch und Türkisch sind jeweils Sprachen, zwischen denen im Rahmen der Kollokationen große Unterschiede auftreten. Während Muttersprachler des Deutschen bei Erwerb und aktivem Gebrauch der Kollokationen keine Schwierigkeit haben, bereiten diese zweier Wortverbindungen durch ihre Unauffälligkeit den türkischen Deutschlernern beim aktiven und natürlichen Gebrauch große Probleme. Aus diesem Grund ist es unbedingt erforderlich, bei den Lernenden kollokationsbezogene Bewusstheit zu gewährleisten und im Rahmen der Wortschatzdidaktik eine kollokationsbezogene Didaktik mit spezifischen Übungen und Aufgaben, die die Struktur des mentalen Lexikons stützen, zur Anwendung zu bringen. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit besteht darin, die Kollokationen aus der strukturellen und syntaktischen Sicht zu untersuchen, deren Relationen zum mentalen Lexikon im Rahmen der kognitiven Linguistik zu bestimmen und die Effizienz der hiernach entwickelten Lehrintervention, Kollokationsübungen und –aufgaben auf produktiver Wortschatzentwicklung und auf dem adäquaten, natürlichen und flüssigeren Sprachgebrauch offen darzulegen.
Yabancılar için Türkçe İstanbul (Istanbul Turkish for Foreigners Course Book) ve Yedi İklim orta seviye ders kitaplarının kültür aktarımı açısından incelenmesi
Bu çalışmada, İstanbul Üniversitesi Dil Merkezi okutmanları tarafından hazırlanan, İstanbul Üniversitesi ile Çukurova Üniversitesi TÖMER'de (Türkçe Öğretimi Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi) okutulan İstanbul ile Yunus Emre Enstitüsü tarafından hazırlanan Yedi İklim orta seviye Türkçe öğretimi ders kitapları kültür ögeleri açısından incelenmiş ve sonuçları değerlendirilmiştir. Bu ders kitapları A1-A2 (Temel), B1-B2 (Orta) ve C1 +(İleri) seviyelerinden oluşmaktadır. İncelediğimiz Türkçe öğretim setleri; AODÇ (Avrupa Ortak Dil Çerçevesi) kriterlerince belirlenmiş, dil düzeylerine uygun biçimde düzenlenmiş, iletişim ve öğrenen odaklı yaklaşıma göre yapılandırılmıştır. Çalışmamızda sözü edilen ders kitaplarında Türk toplumunun ve kültürünün temel ve önemli özelliklerinin yansıtıldığı kültürel etkileşim, kültür aktarımı, çeşitli kültür ögeleri ve metinlerdeki kültürel bilgi içerikleri ile kültür kodları üzerinde durulmuştur. Çalışmada amaç, adı geçen yabancılara Türkçe öğretimi ders kitaplarındaki kültürel değerlerimizin tespitini yapmak ardından bazı değerlendirme ve önerilerde bulunmaktır.
An investigation into the acquisition of modal verbs by monolingual and bilingual learners of English
Language acquisition is defined as the process by which human beings acquire the capacity to perceive and understand language as well as to produce and use words and sentences. Modals constitute one of the most important grammatical areas in the English language. This master's thesis aims to examine the process of acquiring the English modal units of monolingual and bilingual individuals. The universe of the research consists of 9th grade students studying in Anatolian high schools in Batman. The research method has quantitative characteristics. The sample of the study consists of 80 students who are selected equally. Half of the selected participants are monolingual and the rest are bilingual. In this study, a test was used to measure the students' recognition and use of modal units. The test consists of two versions, which include the participants' recognition and production items that reveal the modal units. Each test consists of twenty-four items. Both tests were administered to participants who took the English course according to the curriculum of the Ministry of National Education for five years. SPSS 17 was used for data analysis. Data analysis was performed with crosstables, one way Anova, The Mann Whitney U test and Mean tests based on the responses of the participants with the mean of SPSS 17. This study is expected to show whether monolingual and bilingual students differ in learning modal units, which modal units are more challenging for individuals. Moreover, this study is expected to shed light on the role of the first language transfer on the acquisition of English modal units.
Comparison of conventional and online corrective feedback in EFL writing
The rapid dissemination of computer and Internet use has brought about noticable changes in many fields and even in life itself. Language education is a place where we can apply the upsides of this change. Internet usage, which is not limited to computers, is seen in every area of life with many devices such as smartphones and tablets. In fact, the use of new forms and jargon in speech and writing language is instrumental in our lives. This study aims to examine the effects of technology and Internet usage on writing ability that affects our daily life. In this study, participants, all tertiary level students, performed writing tasks on two different platforms: conventional and computer-based. Similarly, the instructor provided conventional and computer-based feedback to participants regarding idiosyncrasies in the writing tasks. Following the feedback, errors produced in texts rendered via the two platforms were compared in terms of nature and frequency. This process was repeated three times: at the beginning, mid and end of the spring term of the 2016 academic year. The participants who created the texts in a computer environment were asked to submit their texts electronically and thus received feedback through the same method; and when they submitted their tasks conventionally, the feedback reached them in the same manner. Before the initiation of the process, the participants were introduced to error correction symbols employed by the instructor to facilitate understanding of modified language material. The results which were obtained after this process was repeated three times in both platforms (conventional and online) were compared in terms of the number of errors on both platforms, the types of errors and the correction of errors according to thefeedback given. Students' opinions and evaluations about the process were examined. The findings of the study showed that online feedback was more effective in terms of error correction rate than conventional feedback regarding nature and frequency of errors. Besides, the informal interviews conducted with participants illustrated that participants held positive views towards online writing and online corrective feedback. Keywords: feedback, conventional corrective feedback, online corrective feedback, English as foreign language, English writing.
Der einfluss der alternativen methoden auf die sprachfertigkeiten im Deutschen
Es gibt viele Studien über die Methodenanwendung im Fremdsprachenunterricht, aber die Anzahl der Studien zu alternativen Methoden ist begrenzt. Traditionelle Methoden, die im Fremdsprachenunterricht bis heute verwendet wurden, sind für die Schüler nicht effizient und wecken die Aufmerksamkeit der Schüler nicht mehr. Daher wurde nach alternativen Unterrichtsmethoden gesucht, die die Aufmerksamkeit der Schüler auf sich ziehen und ihre Fremdsprachfertigkeiten verbessern könnten. Das Hauptziel dieser Arbeit richtet sich auf die Erforschung der Effektivität der alternativen Methoden im Unterricht Deutsch als zweite Fremdsprache an den vier grundlegenden Sprachfertigkeiten von Schülern an Anadolu Gymnasien in der Türkei. Zu diesem Zweck wurde im Schuljahr 2018-2019 eine Pilotstudie und im Schuljahr 2019-2020 eine Durchführung in den Neunten Klassen an der 85. Yıl Milli Egemenlik Anadolu Gymnasium in Diyarbakır durchgeführt. In dieser Arbeit wurde eine semi- experimentelle Designmethode verwendet. Die Schüler wurden in zwei Gruppen eingeteilt, jeweils eine Untersuchungs- und eine Kontrollgruppe. In der Untersuchungsgruppe wurde mit alternativen Methoden (Community Language Learning, Suggestopädie, Fremdsprachenwachstum und die Process Writing Methode) und in der Kontrollgruppe dagegen mit den traditionellen Methoden (Kommunikative, Audiolinguale und Grammatik Übersetzungsmethode) 24 Wochen lang 2 Stunden pro Woche unterrichtet. Alle drei Monate wurde ein Erfolgstest mit den Gruppen durchgeführt und insgesamt wurden zwei Messungen durchgeführt, der erste Leistungstest im November und der zweite im Februar. Bei diesen Messungen wurden entsprechende Fragen gestellt. Die Daten der Forschung wurden unter Verwendung des Paketprogramms SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) 17.0 analysiert und bei der Analyse wurde ein t-Test verwendet. Als Ergebnis der Analyse wurde bei der ersten Messung, die für die Untersuchungs- und Kontrollgruppe durchgeführt wurde, ein signifikanter Unterschied zwischen den Hör- und Sprechfertigkeiten dieser beiden Gruppen festgestellt, aber es gab keinen signifikanten Unterschied zwischen den Lese-und Schreibfertigkeiten. Als Ergebnis der zweiten Messung, die auf die Untersuchungs-und Kontrollgruppe angewendet wurde, war die Untersuchungsgruppe erfolgreicher beim Lesen, Schreiben, Hören und Sprechen. Es wird erwartet, dass diese Arbeit einen Beitrag zum Fremdsprachenunterricht leistet. Schlüsselwörter: Alternative Lehrmethoden, traditionelle Methoden, Fremdsprachenunterricht, die vier Sprachfertigkeiten.
A cross-cultural study on language learning strategy use of Syrian and Turkish high school EFL students
The study aims to investigate if there are any statistically significant differences between culture and perceived language learning strategy use of Syrian and Turkish high school EFL students and understand how they differ in terms of using learning strategies for their L2 achievement. The population of this study consists of 89 Syrian and 90 Turkish 9th and 10th-grade Anatolian high school EFL students with an age range of 15-16 in Gaziantep-Nizip in Turkey. As the data instrument, Turkish version of SILL (Strategy Inventory of Language Learning), which was originally designed by Oxford in 1989. As the second data collection instrument, a semi-structured interview was utilized to discover the preferred strategies used by language learners to explore the subjective viewpoints of the participants. In this study, a mixed-method design was utilized, and multiple sampling procedure was used to select the participants. Descriptive statistics and independent samples t-test were used to see the difference between the two cultures` learning strategy preferences gathered from the SILL Questionnaire. The most obvious finding emerging from this study is that Syrian participants showed more language learning strategy use than Turkish participants in all the categories. Based on the findings, the difference was found at the item level, not the category level. While the rate of using social strategies was measured as the highest for Syrians, Turkish participants mostly tended to use metacognitive strategies. The results have shown that ethnicity and linguistic disparities as well as different cultural perspectives and education systems influence learners' approach to learning and preference for different learning strategies. The findings of this study suggested that education system, and teachers' behavior affect learners' attitudes towards lesson and strategy preferences.
A study on sympathetic tendency of efl learners through competition games
Sympathy which is an emotion that is required for people to direct their lives since it enables to build healthy relationships by experiencing the same feeling with other persons (Decety & Chaminade, 2003) differs from empathy that means putting oneself in another's place (Tuncay & İl, 2009). Sympathetic tendency is also a term used to express the penchant towards people or things that is a new term in educational field. This study is the first experimental research working on sympathetic tendency in ELT field. This research aims to seek answer whether there is a relation between various competition games played in ELT classrooms and sympathetic tendency of EFL learners towards English lesson. The study was carried on 302 participants consisting of 9th grade students from Istanbul Gaziantepliler Anatolian High School, Gaziantep. These participants were divided into two groups by random sampling as experimental and control groups. Within the 15 weeks of experimental process of the study, various competition games designed by the researcher according to participants' and English curriculum' needs were played with the experimental group unlike the control group which continued their lessons without playing games. The sympathetic tendency questionnaire was applied at the 14th week so as to discover whether there is a relation between the various competition games and sympathetic tendency of participants towards English lesson and a vocabulary knowledge test was applied as pre and post-test to see the progress and find whether there is an effect of various competition games on students' vocabulary knowledge. According to the T-test results used to analyze the collected data from sympathetic tendency questionnaire, the sympathetic tendency of students did not change when experimental and control groups' results were compared. However, according to sympathetic tendency results compared to genders (t=3.599; p=.000), female participants' results (M=139.68) were higher than males participants (M=128.78). The results demonstrated that when the groups were examined according to gender separately, the female participants' results (t=3.400; p=.001) (M=141.26) were higher in experimental group, but there were no significant differences according to genders in control group. The results indicated that female participants had higher sympathetic tendency towards English lesson than males. According to T-Test results of vocabulary test revealed that there were no significant differences according to pre-test results between the groups; however, post-test results (t=12.762; p=.000) illustrated that post-test results of experimental group (M=34.23) were higher than the post-test results of control group (M=24.18). One of the other results of the study demonstrated that various competition games were practical to improve vocabulary knowledge EFL learners in Turkey. In addition to that, the results stated that various competition games were effective to improve participants' collaboration skills that help improving sympathetic tendency according to T-test results between the experimental (M=4.57) and control group (M=4.29) (t=2.484; p=.014). Keywords: Sympathy, competition games, sympathetic tendency, empathy